EarlCat
03-04-2005, 04:54 PM
Democratic governors eye tax cuts?
Washington Times Wednesday, March 02, 2005
The nation's governors came to Washington this week to do what they always do at their annual winter meetings here -- ask for more money from the federal government.
But one governor came here with an additional message for his fellow governors: Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico wants his party to stop bashing tax cuts, which he says are critical to encouraging economic growth and to creating jobs.
The Washington news media focused almost entirely on the governors' annual complaints about the rising costs of Medicaid, an issue that was still not resolved by the time they left town. They want more money to pay for the program's mounting bills, but the Bush administration wants to curb those costs as part of larger reforms.
But in an interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Richardson, who is the new chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said he wants his party to change its position on taxes and begin supporting tax cuts that help create more investment, economic growth and new businesses that will boost employment.
While Democratic leaders here, and many fellow Democrats in the state capitals were bashing President Bush for cutting taxes and even raising taxes in their states, Richardson was doing what Mr. Bush did: He cut state income tax rates sharply across the board and slashed the capital gain tax rate in half.
The result over the past two years has been a nearly 50,000 increase in new jobs in New Mexico and new businesses coming into the state.
There's a lesson here for his fellow Democrats, he says, and he wants them to begin embracing sensible, targeted tax cuts and start talking about "putting more money into peoples' pockets."
Mr. Richardson did something even more daring. He joined tax cut crusader Stephen Moore at a news conference to discuss the Cato Institute's latest fiscal scorecard on the governors. Mr. Moore, of course, is one of the biggest boosters of Mr. Bush's tax cuts and one of the Democrats' severest critics on tax and spending policies.
But there was the leader of the Democratic governors standing right with Mr. Moore to unveil a report card that gave failing or near-failing fiscal grades to many of Mr. Richardson's fellow Democratic governors.
Mr. Richardson, by the way, earned the highest score from CATO: a B. "He talks like a supply-sider and he believes in the power of tax cuts," Mr. Moore said.
-- Donald Lambro, chief political correspondent
Washington Times Wednesday, March 02, 2005
The nation's governors came to Washington this week to do what they always do at their annual winter meetings here -- ask for more money from the federal government.
But one governor came here with an additional message for his fellow governors: Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico wants his party to stop bashing tax cuts, which he says are critical to encouraging economic growth and to creating jobs.
The Washington news media focused almost entirely on the governors' annual complaints about the rising costs of Medicaid, an issue that was still not resolved by the time they left town. They want more money to pay for the program's mounting bills, but the Bush administration wants to curb those costs as part of larger reforms.
But in an interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Richardson, who is the new chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, said he wants his party to change its position on taxes and begin supporting tax cuts that help create more investment, economic growth and new businesses that will boost employment.
While Democratic leaders here, and many fellow Democrats in the state capitals were bashing President Bush for cutting taxes and even raising taxes in their states, Richardson was doing what Mr. Bush did: He cut state income tax rates sharply across the board and slashed the capital gain tax rate in half.
The result over the past two years has been a nearly 50,000 increase in new jobs in New Mexico and new businesses coming into the state.
There's a lesson here for his fellow Democrats, he says, and he wants them to begin embracing sensible, targeted tax cuts and start talking about "putting more money into peoples' pockets."
Mr. Richardson did something even more daring. He joined tax cut crusader Stephen Moore at a news conference to discuss the Cato Institute's latest fiscal scorecard on the governors. Mr. Moore, of course, is one of the biggest boosters of Mr. Bush's tax cuts and one of the Democrats' severest critics on tax and spending policies.
But there was the leader of the Democratic governors standing right with Mr. Moore to unveil a report card that gave failing or near-failing fiscal grades to many of Mr. Richardson's fellow Democratic governors.
Mr. Richardson, by the way, earned the highest score from CATO: a B. "He talks like a supply-sider and he believes in the power of tax cuts," Mr. Moore said.
-- Donald Lambro, chief political correspondent